130 
EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN. 
themselves clean. An excellent dust bath is made by drawing a load 
of “chip-dirt” and dumping it in the yard where the little fellows may 
have ready access to it. For winter use a box partly filled with fine 
sand, road-dust, land plaster or coal or wood ashes answers very well. 
A mixture of sand and land plaster seems to please them more than 
either one alone. Some use wood ashes alone, but a mixture of wood 
ashes and road dust, or fine sand, makes a heavier bath and therefore 
more effective in cleaning the lice out of the feathers. 
If the fowls or chicks are badly infested, do not depend entirely on 
a dust bath to rid them of the parasites. Examine them carefully in 
the day time and if small parasites are found on their bodies, give them 
a thorough dusting, or if small red or white mites are found about the 
cracks and crevices of the house and perches, thoroughly treat as 
described above. Simply because a house has not been used for a long 
time is no assurance that it is clean. It may be full of vermin even 
after years of idleness. Keep a constant lookout for vermin, and treat 
tliorougklv when found. 
HANDLING YOUNG STOCK. 
As soon as the chicks weigh a pound or a pound and a half, the 
mother should be taken away if she lias not already deserted her 
brood and commenced laying. This is a critical time in the young 
chick’s life, as the youngsters are likely to run from coop to coop just 
at dusk searching for the warmth of the mother hen. Some prefer to 
move them to larger coops than those in which they have been raised, 
thus far, but usually it will be found more satisfactory to leave them 
in the “chick coops” until they are well weaned from the mother hens. 
Be careful to keep them from crowding together in a few coops. This 
crowding is often the cause of weak and almost worthless chickens. If 
the chicks have not been examined after they are all settled for the 
night, go from coop to coop and make a careful examination to be sure 
that there are not too many in one house. If a house is found with 
a large number in it, run your hand in among them and note the high 
temperature. You will then understand why this crowding is so dan¬ 
gerous. Also notice the tendency for the chicks to crowd together in 
the coops that are fed first in the morning. To prevent this, change 
the order of feeding so they cannot tell which will be the first to be 
fed at the beginning of each day. 
Be careful also that they do not sleep on the ground as this will 
cause them to sweat. The ground is moist and cool, while their bodies 
are warm, this causes the feathers to become saturated with moisture. 
Then when they go out in the early morning they are readily chilled, 
thus making them unhealthy. The moist, damp atmosphere is also 
unhealthy for them to breathe during the night. 
Perhaps by this time the young males are beginning to annoy the 
pullets. At*the first sign of this approach to maturity the pullets 
should be removed to other quarters. If a portable house with a good 
